Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker carries Square Enix to a year of improved game sales
Square Enix reported increased profits in its latest financial year, with game sales also seeing a slight but noticeable rise largely thanks to the explosive popularity of Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker.
Net sales across all of Square Enix's divisions increased from 332.5 billion yen last year to 365.2 billion yen in the year ending March 31, 2022, with profits in particular up from 26.9 billion yen to 51 billion yen.
The company's digital entertainment section responsible for games reported a smaller increase from 263.9 billion yen in sales to 279.6 billion yen. This is actually more impressive for Final Fantasy 14 when you break down where that increase came from.
Square Enix separates its game sales into three parts: MMOs, HD games, as well as browser and mobile games. As the company notes in its latest annual report, HD game sales declined slightly year-on-year seeing as how the previous financial period saw the release of big-hitters like Marvel's Avengers and Final Fantasy 7 Remake (even if Square Enix did say that the former was disappointing). Mobile and browser game sales, meanwhile, increased by 2.9 billion yen – an extremely small gain compared to the segment's previous growth of 21 billion yen.
It was Square Enix's MMO segment that showed the biggest increase, up to 62.2 billion yen over 39.8 billion yen the previous year – a full 56% jump, and a significant chunk of the company's overall sales gains. This segment includes Final Fantasy 14 and Dragon Quest 10 Online, both of which received new expansion packs in last year's Q3. That said, Square is quick to note that Final Fantasy 14 was the major breadwinner.
"Net sales rose year on year at the MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) Game sub-segment due not
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